ASTRO 101 EXAM 3 FLASH CARDS

Term Which moon is considered likely to have a deep, subsurface ocean of liquid water?	Definition Europa
Term Why is neptune denser than saturn?	Definition It has a different composition than saturn, including a higher proportion of hydrogen compounds and rocks
Term why does jupiter have several distinct cloud layers?	Definition different layers represent clouds made of gases that condense at different temperatures
Term some of the moons of the jovian planets have significant atmospheres. (true/false)	Definition true
Term why do the jovian planet interiors differ?	Definition accretion took longer further from the sun, so the more distant planets formed their cores later and captured less gas from the solar nebula than the closer jovian planets
Term which moon has the most substantial atmosphere?	Definition titan
Term why are saturn's rings so thin?	Definition any particle in the ring with an orbital tilt would collide with other ring particles, flattening its orbit
Term which statement about io is true?	Definition it is the most volcanically active body in our solar system
Term jupiter's great red spot is a low pressure storm like a hurricane on earth. (true/false)	Definition false
Term what is jupiter's great red spot?	Definition a long lived, high pressure storm
Term overall jupiter's composition is most like that of	Definition the sun
Term why is jupiter denser than saturn?	Definition the extra mass of jupiter compresses its interior to a greater extent than that of saturn
Term what atmospheric constituent is responsible for the blue color of uranus and neptune?	Definition methane
Term the four galilean moons around jupiter are	Definition a mixture of rock and ice, with the ice fraction increasing with distance from jupiter
Term how do the jovian planet interiors differ?	Definition all have cores of about the same mass, but differ in the amount of surrounding hydrogen and helium
Term why is saturn almost as big as jupiter, despite its smaller mass?	Definition jupiter's greater mass compresses it more, thus increasing its density
Term hydrogen exists as a gas, liquid, and solid within jupiter. (true/false)	Definition true
Term why are there no impact craters on the surface of io?	Definition io did have impact craters but they have been buried in lava flows
Term why do uranus and neptune have blue methane clouds but jupiter and saturn do not?	Definition methane does not condense into ice in the warmer atmospheric temperatures of jupiter and saturn
Term planetary rings are	Definition all of the above
Term which of the jovian planets have rings?	Definition all of the above
Term what mechanism is most responsible for generating the internal heat of io that drives the volcanic activity?	Definition tidal heating
Term suppose you could float in space a few meters above saturn's rings.  what would you see as you looked down on the rings?	Definition countless icy particles, raning in size from dust grains to large boulders
Term what is the most important reason why an icy moon is more likely to be geologically active than a rocky moon of the same size?	Definition ice has a lower melting point than rock
Term which statement about planetary rings is not true?	Definition saturn's rings formed along with its moon 4.6 billion years ago